For years, reliable voice communication services have been provided over circuit-switched networks such as the public switched telephone network (“PSTN”). More recently, packet-switched networks (e.g., the Internet) capable of carrying data and voice communications have been developed. Such networks allow Internet Protocol (“IP”) enabled devices to send and receive IP-based voice communications between one another over packet-switched networks such as the Internet. Initially, however, IP-based voice communications could only be sent and received by IP-enabled devices connected to the Internet. In other words, a person using a computer to initiate a voice communication over the Internet could send the voice communication only to another computer connected to the Internet. The person did not have any way of sending the voice communication to a PSTN telephone number.
Consequently, Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) services capable of connecting IP-based voice communications to the PSTN were introduced. In order to bridge voice communications between the Internet and the PSTN, providers of VoIP services deployed gateways at Internet points of presence (“PoPs”) and PSTN central offices (COs) where access to both the Internet and the PSTN were available. With such gateways in place, VoIP services could connect IP-based voice calls from the Internet to the PSTN and vice versa. This allowed VoIP subscribers to communicate with persons who subscribed only to PSTN telephone numbers.
Because conventional IP-PSTN gateways are located at PoPs and COs, the switching between packet-switched networks and circuit-switched networks is transparent to VoIP subscribers, who generally do not know whether their voice calls are being transmitted solely over the Internet or over a combination of the PSTN and the Internet. However, costs of switching voice calls between a packet-switched network and a circuit-switched network (e.g., from the Internet to the PSTN and vice versa) are generally passed on to subscribers as part of subscription fees.
Similarly, many Plain Old Telephone Service (“POTS”) providers (e.g., telephone carriers) utilize both circuit-switched networks and packet-switched networks to reduce costs. For example, many POTS providers deploy IP-PSTN gateways at certain central offices (“COs”). The gateways allow voice communications to be transmitted between COs using either circuit-switched networks or packet-switched networks. The use of packet-switched networks to carry voice calls between COs can reduce the costs of POTS, especially when the packet-switched networks are used to carry voice calls over long distances.
While existing voice communication services, including POTS and VoIP services, provide many benefits to subscribers, there remains room for improvement. With respect to POTS provided over the PSTN, for example, a subscriber must generally be at or near the subscriber premises in order to initiate a POTS voice call using a PSTN telephone service available at the subscriber premises. Accordingly, the subscriber is typically unable to utilize her POTS (e.g., her home telephone number) from remote locations. For example, if a POTS subscriber is away from home on a business trip and wishes to place a voice call to a neighbor, the subscriber may have to place and pay for a long distance voice call because she is unable to utilize her home telephone service from a remote location.
On the other hand, VoIP services can be accessed remotely (e.g., over the Internet), but only if a subscriber has access to specialized equipment and/or software. There are currently three main ways to access VoIP services. In one configuration, a user is able to use a standard POTS telephone connected to an analog telephone adaptor (“ATA”) to initiate and receive VoIP voice calls. An ATA interfaces a POTS telephone with a VoIP service. The POTS telephone generally plugs directly into the ATA rather than to the PSTN such that the VoIP service can be accessed using the POTS telephone. Accordingly, a subscriber to a VoIP telephone service does not need to subscribe to a PSTN telephone service. In a second configuration, a user can use a specialized Internet Protocol enabled telephone (“IP phone”) to access VoIP services. In a third configuration, a user can install and operate software known as a “softphone” on a computer or other computing device. A computing device having softphone software, a microphone, a speaker, a sound card, and an Internet connection is capable of sending and receiving voice communications over the Internet. Unfortunately, in order for a VoIP subscriber to access VoIP services from a remote location, the subscriber generally must have a provider-specific ATA, IP phone, or softphone with her.
Thus, it is desirable to provide improved access and flexibility for using POTS and VoIP services that are available at subscriber premises, especially from remote locations. It is also desirable to limit the fees subscribers pay to access and use voice communication services. In addition, it is desirable to provide capability for bridging, at a subscriber premises, voice communications between an IP network and voice communication services available at the subscriber premises while minimizing subscription fees. It is also desirable to provide subscribers with functionality for sharing voice communication services at subscriber premises (e.g., a PSTN line or VoIP service) with others (e.g., other subscribers or members of a user group).